POL SCI 157
Government and Politics in the Middle East
Description: Lecture, three or four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Comparative study of government in the Arab States, Turkey, Israel, and Iran. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 4.0
Units: 4.0
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Most Helpful Review
Overall suggestion: don't, unless you must. Content: an in-class midterm and a take-home final, both with multiple essay prompts. Lectures: rough. Very, very rough. I can count the number of times on my hands he stood up and wrote something on the board (6, if you're curious). For the most part, he sits in his chair and reads his notes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except it's mainly a mumble and largely nothing to do with the readings. In fact, you can (and many people did) get away with just doing the readings and not go to lecture. I was a sucker and did it anyways. In the end, I got a B+ and was happy with it. I just wanted it to be over. I took approximately 10+ pages of notes per lecture, went to every lecture (awake, mind you), and I can honestly say that during the course (and especially after) I have next to NO recollection of anything mentioned or covered, at least to any detail. It was all a big, monotonous blur. I'm sure he's really knowledgeable in his field, but he doesn't convey it in a class setting all too effectively (read: I did not look forward to class at all).
Overall suggestion: don't, unless you must. Content: an in-class midterm and a take-home final, both with multiple essay prompts. Lectures: rough. Very, very rough. I can count the number of times on my hands he stood up and wrote something on the board (6, if you're curious). For the most part, he sits in his chair and reads his notes, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except it's mainly a mumble and largely nothing to do with the readings. In fact, you can (and many people did) get away with just doing the readings and not go to lecture. I was a sucker and did it anyways. In the end, I got a B+ and was happy with it. I just wanted it to be over. I took approximately 10+ pages of notes per lecture, went to every lecture (awake, mind you), and I can honestly say that during the course (and especially after) I have next to NO recollection of anything mentioned or covered, at least to any detail. It was all a big, monotonous blur. I'm sure he's really knowledgeable in his field, but he doesn't convey it in a class setting all too effectively (read: I did not look forward to class at all).
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2016 - I love this class! If you can take it I recommend you do because he is such an engaging professor, and the material can be tough to understand because its a lot but it's fun to learn and he makes it so simple for the students to understand. He gave a midterm and a final. The midterm had I.D's and fill in the blanks, and he gave the I.D's a week before which is extremely fair. Take him if you love the middle east and an engaging professor.
Fall 2016 - I love this class! If you can take it I recommend you do because he is such an engaging professor, and the material can be tough to understand because its a lot but it's fun to learn and he makes it so simple for the students to understand. He gave a midterm and a final. The midterm had I.D's and fill in the blanks, and he gave the I.D's a week before which is extremely fair. Take him if you love the middle east and an engaging professor.
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